ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 74148
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| Date: | Friday 21 September 1951 |
| Time: | 07:30 LT |
| Type: | de Havilland DH.84 Dragon Mk III |
| Owner/operator: | Qantas Empire Airways Ltd |
| Registration: | VH-AXL |
| MSN: | 2071 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | 5 km NE of Karanka airstrip, Eastern Highlands -
 Papua New Guinea
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Cargo |
| Departure airport: | Lae, Papua New Guinea (LAY/AYNZ) |
| Wabag, Enga Province, Papua New Guinea | |
| Confidence Rating: |  Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources |
11.04.43: Manufactured by De Havilland Aircraft Pty Ltd, Mascot Airport, Sydney NSW as part of an RAAF order for 87 aircraft.
26.04.43: 1st Flight at Mascot, Sydney, NSW.
28.04.43: Received by No 2 Aircraft Park (2 AP) at Bankstown Airport, Sydney, NSW and bought on charge as A34-82.
13.07.43: Allocated to No 5 Communications Unit (5CU) at RAAF Garbutt, Queensland
16.07.43: Received by No 5 Communications Unit (5CU) at RAAF Garbutt, Queensland
30.11.43: Starboard undercarriage strut collapsed on landing. Pilot and passengers uninjured.
02.12.43: Allocated to No 1 Repair & Salvage Unit (1 RSU) Higgins Field, Cape York, Queensland for repair.
03.12.43: Received by No 1 Repair & Salvage Unit (1 RSU) Higgins Field, Cape York, Queensland
28.12.43: Allocated to 5 CU after repairs.
30.12.43: Received by 5 CU.
28.02.44: While on a flight from Iron Range to Cairns the aircraft encountered cloud build up over Princess Charlotte Bay. The pilot throttled back and descended below the cloud layer and when he tried to throttle up again the port engine remained in flight idle. The aircraft would not maintain height on one engine so the pilot headed for the coast and forced landed in low scrub. Examination revealed the throttle control rod had broken. Pilot A417353 Flight Sergeant M.J. Edington and passenger A13878 Corporal R.C. Billon were uninjured and spent two days waiting for a rescue party.
03.03.44: Allocated to No 13 Aircraft Repair Depot (13 ARD) at Breddan, Queensland, for recovery and repair.
04.03.44: Received by 13 ARD at Breddan, Queensland
15.05.44: Allocated to 5 CU to replace A34-60.
16.05.44: Received by 5 CU.
27.07.44: Request allocation for complete overhaul due to deterioration from tropical conditions.
28.07.44: Allocated to De Havilland at Mascot Airport, Sydney, NSW, for overhaul.
08.08.44: Received by De Havilland at Mascot Airport, Sydney, NSW,
27.06.45: Received by 2 AD at RAAF Richmond, NSW for post overhaul checks.
28.06.45: Allocated to No 5 Aircraft Depot (5 AD) at RAAF Base Wagga Wagga, NSW, for storage.
05.07.45: Received by No 5 Aircraft Depot (5 AD) at RAAF Base Wagga Wagga, NSW
19.09.45: Allocated to 6 CU at Batchelor Field, NT.
25.09.45: To be retained in service by RAAF, not to be inspected by prospective buyers.
05.11.45: Received by 6 CU at Batchelor Field, NT.
01.02.46: Allocated to HQ RAAF Darwin.
05.03.46: Received by HQ RAAF Darwin.
16.05.46: Approved by the Air Board for disposal by the Commonwealth Disposal Commission (CDC).
14.06.46: Sold by CDC to the Flying Doctor Service, Williams St, Adelaide SA for £50 pounds.
05.08.46: Collected by purchaser from Darwin.
01.09.46: Registration application by Edward J. Connellan, Alice Springs, NT. Registered as VH-AXL same day.
12.09.46: C of A issued. Forwarded windows on starboard side faired over, replaced by two small port holes. Civilianized in September 1946 for Eddie Connellan to be used on Connellan Airways Flying Doctor Service contract. In his book 'Failure of Triumph' Eddie Connellan wrote: “Irrespective of my own wishes, Director of Civil Aviation told me that I should use the 8 passenger DH.84 Dragon. They had the Air Force sell me one for £50 and told me to use it. I argued that it was ridiculous to try to carry on with an 8 passenger aeroplane of 260 hp, against the 900 hp in the Beech 18 and that the best thing that they could do with the enormous fleet of Air Force Dragons was to put them all in a heap and burn them. I told them it would not be long before our Dragon would sink back into the ground after take off. In fact this happened at Hermannsburg on 17 September 1946. No blame could be attached to the pilot: the aircraft simply had insufficient power to stay in the air in hot conditions".
17.09.46: Crashed on takeoff from Hermannsburg airstrip 130 km South of Alice Springs. Connellan Airways pilot Sam Calder could not maintain flight because of the very hot conditions and sank back into trees and scrub at the end of the strip. Aircraft was trucked back to Alice Springs for a lengthy repair, and promptly sold to Qantas Empire Airlines for their Papua New Guinea services. Eddie Connellan recalls "Perhaps his worst trip was the shortest, from Hermannsburg with the Dragon that crashed in the timber after takeoff because of inadequate power. This was only about 90 miles, but the winding narrow track of those days was through thick scrub nearly all the way, which required many days of cutting down or lopping trees to let his truck through with its wide load."
09.05.47: Change of ownership: Qantas Empire Airways Ltd, Lae, New Guinea
17.02.50: Damaged in landing accident at Banz strip, Western Highlands province, Papaua New Guinea.
04.04.50: Damaged in landing accident at Gusap airport, Morobe province. Papua New Guinea.
21.09.51: At 07:30 hrs while on a scheduled flight from Lae to Wabag in low visibility, the aircraft crashed into a mountain ridge 5 km North East of Karanka airstrip, Papua New Guinea in severe smoke haze, killing the pilot (Captain Frederick G. Barlogie of Sydney) was sole occupant and was killed instantly. It was an all freight flight and there were no passengers aboard at the time. The Director of Civil Aviation investigation found that the pilot continued the flight under conditions of reduced visibility in severe smoke haze, so that flight in sight of ground could only be maintained at a dangerously low altitude.
According to a contemporary newspaper report (The Canberra Times Monday 24 Sep 1951 Page 4):
"PILOT KILLED IN QANTAS CRASH
LAE (New Guinea) Sunday.
(AAP-Reuter)
First Officer Frederick George Barlogie, 28, of Wellington Street, Bondi, was killed when a Qantas
DH84 Dragon twin-engined bi-plane crashed into mountainous country in the central highlands of New Guinea yesterday. He was the plane's only occupant.
Patrol Officer K. I. Morgan and native police, who were patrolling the area of the crash, brought the
body to Arona. The plane left Lae for the Baiyer River, in the central highlands, yesterday morning, and
was later reported overdue".
19.10.51: VH-AXL was Struck-off Register
Sources:
1. The Canberra Times Monday 24 Sep 1951 Page 4: https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/2838302
2. https://air-britain.com/pdfs/production-lists/DH84.pdf
3. http://www.adf-serials.com.au/2a34.htm
4. http://www.edcoatescollection.com/ac1/austa2/VH-AXL.html
5. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/dh/pAus01.html
6. http://www.goodall.com.au/australian-aviation/dh84-pt2/dh84-dragon-pt2.htm
7. https://www.baaa-acro.com/crash/crash-de-havilland-dh84-dragon-karanka-1-killed
8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Qantas_fatal_accidents
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 30-Apr-2010 23:43 | Petro | Added |
| 01-Jan-2012 10:58 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Cn, Location, Source, Narrative] |
| 11-Apr-2014 00:36 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Time, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 11-Apr-2014 00:38 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Departure airport, Destination airport, Narrative] |
| 18-Jul-2019 10:31 | Anon. | Updated [Narrative] |
| 11-Nov-2022 21:35 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Operator, Location, Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 11-Nov-2022 21:36 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Aircraft type, Cn] |
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